Congratulations to Hans-Christian Hönes on the publication of his article „Die Geburt der Kunstgeschichte in England: Gottfried Kinkels Vorlesungen am University College London 1853“.

The article presents a recent discovery, namely the manuscripts of the first ever lecture in art history at an English University. Hans Christian was able to identify Kinkel’s hitherto unknown draft manuscripts for this lecture among his papers archived at the University of Bonn.

For those of you who would like to learn more about this pivotal event in the history of British art history (and happen to be in London): Hans Christian is giving a Lecture on this very topic on November 19, as part of the UCL Art History Department’s Research Seminar Series.

Congratulations to Hans-Christian Hönes on the publication of his article „Enlivening and – dividing: an aproria of illumination“. This article, developed from a 2012 paper presented at the Courtauld Institute, explores eighteenth-century reactions to sculpture as a repository of antiquity. It is available to download here.

Abstract: In 1798, Karl August Böttiger paid a nocturnal visit to the Gallery of Antiques in Dresden, illuminating the statues with a torch. At first glance, this seems to be yet another example of a Weiterlesen →

In a previous post I talked about a series of workshops, called ‚Research in Translation‘, which I had the opportunity to participate in, which examined the translation of research into exhibition. The meetings held for the event were extremely productive and thought-provoking, bringing together early career researchers from across the humanities and sciences. We had chance to visit museum installations and store-rooms and talk to curators and exhibition designers. The end result, a series of mini-exhibitions, one by each participant, is now on display in Leicester from June 2015 util February 2016 (some images available here). This therefore seems like a good opportunity to present my part of it, reflect on the process and signpost what lies ahead for a larger project, which grew out of these workshops and my Bilderfahrzeuge work, especially as my time with the prjoject is now concluded.

The David Talbot-Rice Archive

Fragment of statue, Constantinople, c. 1927? David Talbot-Rice Archive, courtesy of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, made available digitally by the Birmingham East Mediterranean Archive, image no. 19343776542.

The exhibition I intended to present went through various development stages, most of them trying to do too much and say too little. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to work on an archive which I had discovered while working at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham. This was the archive of the art historian and archeaologist David Talbot-Rice. Although most of his collected papers, art works and books were left to the University of Edinburgh where Talbot-Rice spent most of his career,in 1972 his widow, Tamara Talbot-Rice (also a prominent art historian) gave some of his notes and photographs to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, both at the University of Birmingham. These were materials most colsely connected to his work on Byzantine art, and especially to excavations he was involved with between 1927 and 1957 in the eastern Mediterranean. Many sites Talbot-Rice worked on have since been lost, buried or restored so heavily that they are unrecognizable. His photographs are a record of lost archaeological discoveries. In the background of many are also images of vehicles, people, buildings and street activities giving a glimpse into the changing face of the eastern Mediterranean at a time of intense change. His notes and letters record unpublished details of the excavations and evolving debates with other scholars of the region.

Double congratulations to Linda Báez-Rubi on her latest edited volume, produced with Emilie Carreón of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and her chapter in it. The volume comprises the proceedings of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México’s sixteenth International Colloquium on Art History and the full publication is available here. Linda’s chapter discusses the creation of the Virgin of Guadalupe as an American icon through the comibination of religious and scientific learning and Jesuit agency. Weiterlesen →

Solidus of the emperor Marcian, found in India, 4.34g, Madras Government Museum, Darley Catalogue No. 15.

The main aim of my project as part of the Bilderfahrzeuge group has been to examine the use of Byzantine coins across a wide geographical area. The recognisability of Byzantine coinage and its extensive distribution in the late antique and medieval periods makes it an extraordinary medium for exploring how people across huge swathes of territory (with consequent cultural and economic differences) responded to an identical set of images and their materiality. While my own research focus has been on India and, more broadly, the use of Byzantine coins in jewellery, and their interaction with Sasanian Persian and Aksumite east African coins, a comparative perspective inviates collaboration with scholars working on other regions. With the help of the Bilderfahrzeuge group and the Universities‘ China Committee in London (UCCL), July 2015 provided a golden opportunity to pursue such comparisons.

Leeds International Medieval Congress

The Leeds International Medieval Congress (IMC) held annually at the University of Leeds is one of the most significant gatherings in the calendar of European medieval studies. It has been my pleasure to attend and present three times, and to be part of a growing presence by researchers working on Byzantium, the Islamic world and China. The conference is a great place to meet a diverse range of researchers, raise awareness of research work and generate lasting discussions. It presented the ideal chance to open a network of discussions about Byzantine coins used in contexts beyond the empire, beginning with a panel of three speakers all addressing the issue of Byzantine coins far beyond imperial frontiers. The panel looked something like this:

Congratulations to Hans-Christian on the publication of Aby Warburg – Fragmente zur Ausdruckskunde [Fragments on the Theory of Expression]. This edition of Aby Warburg’s early theoretical manuscripts – among others the much discussed texts “Fragmente zur Ausdruckskunde” and “Symbolismus als Umfangsbestimmung“ – provides a dense, highly biographic documentation of his unique way of thinking. The notes, schematic drawings, and diagrams of this young scholar offer unique insight into his working methods. The volume includes key documents from the early phase of Warburg’s thinking and research on his theory of images and symbols between approx. 1888 and 1905. This genetical critical edition makes the different phases of Warburg’s reworking of his texts intelligible for the first time. The introductory essay opens up a highly original new perspective on these processes of notation and (biographical) self-documentation.“